Tagged Questions

A power supply is an electronic device that supplies electric power to another device, such as a computer, monitor or printer. This is achieved by converting wall power (or mains power) to a lower voltage, and in most cases also from AC to DC. Most power supplies also provide protection from ...

My laptop is capable of running most games on high settings at decent frame rates. However, if the power cable gets unplugged while I'm playing, the game immediately starts slowing down, even if I'm ...

I have many different AC adapters and power supplies for a variety of devices, ranging from small 5V/1A USB chargers to laptop power adapters and desktop PSUs. However, I often hear a whining noise ...

I was reading http://superuser.com/questions/32840/is-surge-protection-actually-needed and well I'd like to know why brownouts are so harmful. The explanation gave there is "the capacitors get above ...

Seven years ago a friend gave me a Liebert PowerSure 250 UPS and it has done well for whatever (home) PC and monitor I've plugged into it over the years. I've just ordered a new PC with the Intel core ...

I just noticed that finally entry model PSUs are now giving 2x12 power leads rather than needing to use a 2x10 in addition to a snap on 2x2.
For the first time I actually looked at one and I thought ...

I am developing an application on a Linux embedded board (runs Debian) e.g. Raspberry Pi, Beagle Board/Bone, or olimex. The boards works on an environment that the electricity is cut unexpectedly (it ...

Is this AC power cord connector a standard one? The pins seems to be rotated 90 degrees.
This ATX power supply unit (Silverstone ST1500) did not come with the cord and I am hoping to be able to get ...

I always thought that using a conventional UPS with a PC is highly inefficient. Power goes from AC -> DC -> AC in UPS and then AC -> DC in PC SMPS. Since PC works only with DC (12, 5 and 3 volts) It ...

I recently built a small mini-itx Intel ATOM-based Ubuntu home server. The case I choose is a small case but only a full size ATX power supply would fit it. I choose a mid-grade OCZ 500 watt modular ...

I've had problems with one long (4 meter) USB Mini-B to USB Type-A cable not being able to boot a 2.5'' external hard disc due to not supplying enough current. On top of that, the cable used a Type-A ...

I was just looking at the power connector for a SATA optical drive, and noticed that it had fifteen pins!
I then marveled at the data connector next to it, which has a measly seven pins.
I know that ...

I'm having an issue with my PC: It is rebooting sometimes, and I am suspecting the PSU, so I want to confirm a few things. It is a new PC and the first issues started occuring roughly one month after ...

I have a desktop PC that is just over a year old that I use daily for work. It's running Windows 8.1, has 16GB RAM and an i7 CPU. It has a 256GB Samsung 840 SSD (Windows + programs) along with a 1TB ...

I have some (non working) computer parts that I want to get rid of.
I'm pretty sure most of computer hardware can't be put in the trash safely but I want to know if some of them can.
(At the moment ...

Our old network admin bought the top range UPS a few months ago but never came around to setting it up and is no longer with the company. Now the old UPS broke down and needs to be replaced, but an ...

Given that I am building a home computer from scratch and I have several components (MB, CPU, HDD, Video, Sound, etc) which have specific power requirements, is there a formula for me to calculate the ...

I have noticed some laptop power supplies include a plug that allows you to connect it to a power source while flying. If I was going to go out and buy a laptop power supply for this purpose, which ...

Last summer I bought a broken power supply (without knowing of course) and put it in my computer. Turning my box on made one of my cheaper HDDs catch fire (I believe a capacitor or resistor blew) and ...

I know this looks like weird and useless, but let me explain...
I'm running Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK) to make some tests on Windows 8 Preview. One of it's assessment is the ...